Channeling the spirit of the Old Manse in Concord

Thursday

Sep 7, 2017 at 3:01 AMSep 11, 2017 at 11:36 AM

By Chris Bergeron, Daily News Correspondent

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau will once again ponder nature’s spiritual powers on the grounds of the Old Manse in an innovative outdoor play to be staged in the fields and meadows of the landmark house near the banks of the Concord River.

Written by Tyson Forbes, a sixth generation descendent of Emerson who lived and wrote some of his most famous essays in the 270-year-old clapboard home in Concord, the award-winning “Nature” will be performed 11 times from Sept. 22 to Oct. 1.

Forbes, who will play Emerson, said the 90-minute “walking” play “channels the spirit of the Old Manse to awaken the audience to their natural surroundings and reinvigorate their connections to nature.”

“We don’t think of ‘Nature’ as a historical piece. We hope to make it accessible and relevant to today,” Forbes said. “I think of it as a new, old voice.”

The play will be produced by TigerLion Arts, a Minneapolis company that describes its artistic mission as “celebrating human wisdom and the spirit of nature through creative works that awaken, inform and delight.”

Forbes said the play’s dialogue draws from Emerson’s and Thoreau’s writings to convey their shared belief in the Divine presence in nature as a guide to human conduct.

“We’re intentionally interacting with the spirit of the Old Manse,” he said. “We feel the stars are aligned. There’s an extra energy to being in Concord where many of the transcendental ideas sprung from.”

After successful tours in the Midwest in 2015 and 2016, “Nature” will make its East Coast debut at the Old Manse, a National Historical Landmark operated by the Trustees, the regional land trust that owns titles to 116 properties across the state.

“We hope ‘Nature’ reaches a variety of people, including those familiar with the play and its themes and people who are new to the magic of Transcendentalism,” said Joanna Ballantine, Trustees vice-president for the Western Region. “It’s definitely an innovative experience we’re thrilled to offer.”

Tickets are $20 for adult Trustees members and $10 for children; nonmember adults are $25 and children $15. They can be purchased by visiting www.thetrustees.org/natureplay

Guests are encouraged to arrive early and visit the grounds. Picnic meals can be enjoyed during the pre-show bagpiping and choral arrangements by local community members 30 minutes before the play begins.

Throughout the 90-minute play directed by Forbes’ wife, Markell Kiefer, the audience will follow the ensemble cast as it moves to four locations in the nine-acre site at 269 Monument Street.

She said Forbes had wanted to “bring ‘Nature’ to Concord” since 2010 and had explored staging it at Minuteman Park or the North Bridge.

“The Trustees reached out to us. In a way, the Old Manse discovered us,” she said.

As the play’s action moves across the grounds, Kiefer said music plays during transitions “to encourage audience members to reconnect with the presence of nature in their lives.”

“There’s so much rich history in that land,” she said. “We want to get people moving in nature with one another and open their bodies, minds and hearts to the spirit of the play.”

At a time President Donald Trump is promoting policies that damage the environment, Kiefer said, “It’s more important than ever to honor Transcendentalists whose reverence for nature is so essential now.”

Portable lawn chairs or blankets are recommended for seating. The Trustees will provide transportation, including a golf cart, for people with limited mobility.

Musicians playing bagpipes, the violin, flutes and even a washboard will be accompanied by a 31-member chorus from the First Parish Church of Concord led by Director of Music Beth Norton.

The chorus will comprise adult members of the church choir, other singers and some children.

They will perform the traditional folk song, “Shenandoah,” and two songs by Stephen Foster, “Beautiful Dreamer” and “Hard Times Come Again No More.”

Norton said, “The Old Manse is the best possible place to perform ‘Nature’” because of the two authors’ personal involvement with the site.

“It’s the perfect story of Emerson and Thoreau and it’s our story,” she said. “The audience will be experiencing nature in a way they both would have approved of. And it’s another way for people to enter into their philosophy.”

Chris Bergeron is a freelance writer, formerly a longtime arts writer for the MetroWest Daily News and Wicked Local.